Low Pay Drives Out Many Teachers

December 16, 1985|By KiKi Bochi, Education Writer

Low pay continues to be the primary factor driving teachers out of their profession, according to a yearlong study by the Broward County school system.

Despite strides that have brought average salaries for Broward teachers to the third highest in Florida, slightly more than 50 percent of the teachers who quit during the last school year cited their pay as one of the reasons for resigning.

As one 15-year veteran science teacher put it in his exit questionnaire, the low wages ``make me want to vomit.``

This year, Broward`s 7,700 public school teachers received their largest raise ever, and now make between $17,400 and $32,281.

School system officials have been using questionnaires for three years to try to understand why teachers who have invested as many as 10 or 15 years in teaching would throw in the towel.

Of 442 teachers who quit last year, 137 returned the forms. Teachers who retired or who were fired were not included in the survey.

The angry scrawlings on the bottom of many of the two-page form letters reveal frustration that took years to build.

Generally, the answers are far more complicated than just insufficient pay. Some attach three single-spaced typewritten pages to elaborate on their dissatisfaction about everything from the state teacher certification test to the merit pay plan, and from the apathy of parents to the devil-may-care attitude of their children.

Apparently, in many cases the low salaries simply serve as the proverbial straw that breaks the camel`s back.

``Teachers don`t usually go into teaching for the money,`` said Tom Johnson, associate superintendent for personnel. ``They go into it for other reasons -- dealing with kids, trying to shape young lives.``

Johnson said that when some teachers find the intrinsic rewards lacking, they become unwilling to fight the frustrations for what they perceive to be low pay.

Not all the reasons cited have to do with money, the frustrations of the job, or even Broward`s school system, however.

Some quit because they want to return to their hometowns. A good number quit, reluctantly, because their spouses get transferred. Some want to continue their education, or stay home with their young children.

Notably, some rave about the Broward school system, principals who have been supportive, and colleagues who have been compassionate.

But even those who have good things to say can`t resist checking off a few of the problems they perceived in their years or months with the system.

For instance, almost 45 percent of the teachers who answered the questionnaire cited the School Board`s lack of concern for teachers and their problems as instrumental in their resignations.

Overwhelming paperwork did in 38 percent of the respondents. (One middle school teacher noted that it would take 12,000 pencil marks to fill in just one round of required forms on pupil progression for all her students.)

Lack of advancement opportunities, inadequate facilities, poor image of the profession and lack of public support for education also were noted frequently among the answers. All were mentioned by at least one-third of the respondents.

Tony Gentile, president of the Broward Teachers Union, said all the factors work together to make low salaries seem particularly insufferable to many teachers.

``It`s sort of like a double-whammy,`` Gentile said. ``They say to themselves, `If I was making $50,000 a year, I could take all this nonsense. But why should I put up with it (at current salaries)?` ``

The Florida Education Association/United, parent organization of the Broward Teachers Union, estimates the average annual salary in Broward at $22,343, the third highest average in Florida.

Still, union officials would like to see salaries range between $25,000 and $45,000 within the next five years.

``Obviously, salaries continue to be a problem,`` Gentile said. ``In spite of the fact that we have made progress, we still have a long way to go.``

No one knows that better than Thomas Yambor, who quit after 11 years as a special education teacher.

Yambor said he has two bachelor`s degrees and a master`s degree, but he found himself moonlighting 30 hours a week as a frozen food clerk in a grocery store just to make ends meet.

Yambor said he could have lived with the paperwork and other frustrations. But a 70-hour workweek just to support his two daughters was too much. Now he delivers mail for the U.S. Postal Service.

``I got tired of having to work a second job,`` said Yambor, of Fort Lauderdale.``I enjoyed teaching -- I really liked it -- but I never could get ahead.``

As one former social studies teacher explained after 7 1/2 years in the profession, ``Teaching ideals are lost in the crush of (trying to meet) daily living expenses.``